West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1887-10-28
HAMPERS FERRY LETTER.
October 21st. 1887

4
ply the demand. Many people sup.
suppose that it is an easy matter to
write one letter a week, and so it is,
provided that the party one address
es is not disposed to be critical, but
to furnish, every seven days, to a
multitude of intelligent readers on
whose indulgence you have no claim,
something new enough and suffi-
GENTLY sprightly to arrest some de-
gree of their attention is serious
undertaking, and no doubt, if we
scribblers for the press could hear
all that is said of our attempts to
enlighten the world, most of US
would quit in modification and de-
spair. Then, again, in small COM
munities it is dangerous for us to
draw on our imaginations, for every
body knows every thing that is
transporting around, and the enter
prising reporter who departs from
hard facts is certain of detection,
not to mention that it is not always
healthy for him to tell the whole
truth either. For ourselves; if we
lived in large city, or at great
distance from our place of publica-
ton, we would not hesitate to kill
an old woman or scald child or
two occasionally to fill vacuum in
our news budget, but at Harper's
Ferry and within eight miles of the
DEMOCRAT office we have to be cir
cumspect, the more so as there is
here watchful Sentinel that pro-
poses to guard faithfully the inter
est of truth as well as those of the
community and will challenge the
passage of all cheats or suspicious
items. We will then-like a good
many people we know-make a vir-
tue of necessity, and be honest when
it is dangerous or impossible for us
to be otherwise.
On Wednesday evening the town
was shaken up by loud detonation
that reverberated through the neigh
boring passes and was repeated over
and over again by the startled ech-
oes of the surrounding glens. The
explosion was of dynamite applied
to the walls of some of the old mus
ket factory buildings, the bricks
composing them being required in
the erection of the new mill on the
Shenandoah. We were walking
down Camp Hill in one OF our brown
studies when we heard the terrific
crash Immediately succeeded by the
pattering of brick bats that fell
thick as hail around us, while the
daylight was almost blotted out in
a thick cloud of mortar and brick
dust. 1t was narrow chance, but
we hasten to relieve the public anX-
iety with the glad tidings that our
new hat escaped unscathed. 1t is
proposed, we believe, to tear down
or blow up all the old ruins in the
armory yard and, in short time,
John Browns famous fortress will
stand as the only relic of the old
government buildings at this place.
Enthusiasts on both sides of our
great war question will perhaps dis
cover significance in the accidental
preservation of this one building.
Some will see IL it sort Of illustra-
ton of 1.-The survival of the fittest,"
while others will regard it as Il
warning to future generations
against lawless aggression, but let
them fight it out, for ace came near
enough to being one and about the
first of the victims of the great raid,
and we do not propose to canvass
for the honor of being the last.
We regret to learn that Mr.. Rob
ert Everhart, of Loundon County,
employed on the new works was
painfully hurt on last Tuesday af,
ternoOn. He was engaged around q
derrick when by some means his
hand was badly crushed, but we are
glad to learn from his physician,
DR.. Ransom, that it is not likely the
injury will be permane nt.
Mr.. Barlow Nose, of Sharpsburg,
Md.-we are very sorry to announce
was drowned in the canal near
Harper's Ferry bride on last Thurs
dav night. He was employed for =
few weeks with Slavery and Com
panv and boarded on the Maryland
side of the river. On Friday morn
inc he was missed but not until the
opening of the canal lock on the. af-
ternoon of that day, caused his body
to rise to the surface of the water
was it known what had befallen
him. Nobody appears to under
stand how he got into the water, but
it believed that his death was pure
" accidental. He had an excellent
reputation at his old home, and dur
ing his short stay at this place he
made favorable impression on all
who formed his acquaintance.
Some time on the Sunday before
last the woods on the Maryland
Heights caught fire and continued
to bnrn until the rain of last Thurs
dav. The fire famed by brisk au-
tumnal breeze presented grand
spectacle by night, though of course
one could not forget in his admi-
ration the loss of property and the
danger involved. We do not know